1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image displaying method and an image display to be able to provide an image of a given object three-dimensionally without dedicated glasses.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In a conventional three-dimensional image display not using glasses, such as an integral photography and a so-called fly-eye lens, different image information of a given object are arranged behind plural respective microlens composed of a microlens-array or a lenticular lens-array. Then, when an observer makes an attempt to obtain the image information of the given object, the conventional three-dimensional image display provides different image information, depending on the observing direction. Therefore, the observer can obtain the three dimensional image of the given object.
FIG. 1 is a conceptual view showing an image displaying method using a conventional three-dimensional image display. In FIG. 1, an object 20 is observed.
When a three-dimensional image display 10 is observed from a X-direction, an image information of a part A1 of the object 20 can be provided from a part a1 of an image information source 21 located behind a microlens 11. Similarly, an image information of a part A2 of the object 20 can be provided from a part a2 of an image information source 22 located behind a microlens 12, and an image information of a part A3 of the object 20 can be provided from a part a3 of an image information source 23 located behind a microlens 13.
As a result, when the three-dimensional image display 10 is observed from the X-direction, the images of the parts A1-A3 of the object 20 can be obtained from the corresponding image information a1-a3 to provide the X-direction image of the object 20.
When the three-dimensional image display 10 is observed from a Y-direction, an image information of a part B1 of the object 20 can be provided from a part b1 of an image information source 25 located behind a microlens 15. Similarly, an image information of a part B2 of the object 20 can be provided from a part b2 of an image information source 24 located behind a microlens 14, and an image information of a part b3 of the object 20 can be provided from a part b3 of an image information source 23 located behind a microlens 13.
Therefore, when the three-dimensional image display is observed from the Y-direction, the images of the parts B1-B3 of the object 20 can be obtained from the corresponding image information b1-b3 to provide the Y-direction image of the object 20.
Since the three-dimensional image display 10 has plural image information for respective parts of the object 20 in an observing direction, an image of the object in a given direction can be provided if the three-dimensional image display 10 is observed from the given direction. Therefore, if the three-dimensional image display 10 is observed from various directions, the image of the object 20 can be provided three-dimensionally.
However, the resolution of such a three-dimensional image display as in FIG. 1 is determined by the arrangement density of the microlenses and the image information density. Moreover, the above image information source may be composed of a liquid crystal element. Therefore, the image information density is determined by the pixel number of the liquid crystal element. Generally, about only four pixels can be arranged behind each microlens, so that it is difficult to obtain a three-dimensional image in high resolution.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new image displaying method and a new image display to be able to provide a three dimensional image of a given object in high resolution.
For achieving the above object, this invention relates to an image displaying method comprising the steps of:
arranging plural microlenses for plural optical sources, respectively,
moving the plural microlenses relatively for the plural optical sources, and
varying light beams from the plural optical sources with synchronized with the relative movements on basis of image information of a given object to be observed,
whereby the three-dimensional image of the given object can be provided.
Moreover, this invention relates to an image display comprising plural optical sources, plural microlenses arranged so as to be opposed to the plural respective optical sources, an optical controller to control light beams from the plural optical sources on the basis of image information of a given object to be observed, and a driving device to move the plural microlenses relatively for the plural optical sources with synchronized with the optical control.
The inventors have intensely studied to develop a new image displaying method and a new image display to be able to provide a three dimensional image in high resolution. As a result, they have found out that microlenses with large aperture angles are moved relatively for optical sources to emit their respective optical signals corresponding to image information of a given object, and at the same time, light beams with different intensities or wavelengths are output, depending on the image information. That is, according to the present invention, only one microlens can provide image information corresponding to various parts of a given object to be observed.
Therefore, if the relative movement of the microlens for the optical source is carried out continuously and the optical intensity or the wavelength of the light beam from the optical source is varied continuously, only the microlens can provide continuous image information theoretically.
FIG. 2 is a conceptual view showing an image displaying method and an image display according to the present invention to display an image of a given object three-dimensionally. In this case, similar constituent parts to the ones as shown in FIG. 1 are employed. However, image sources are composed of given optical sources according to the present invention, and thus, image information can be provided as various optical intensities or optical wavelengths of light beams from the given optical sources, synchronized with the relative movements between the given optical sources and microlenses.
For example, in the conventional image displaying method shown in FIG. 1, if the image information sources 21-23 have, as the X-direction image information, only the image information a1-a3 corresponding to the parts A1-A3 of the object 20, only the image of the parts A1-A3 of the object 20 can be provided when the image display 10 is observed from the X-direction.
On the contrary, in the image displaying method and the image display of the present invention, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the image information density of each of image sources is increased, according to the present invention. That is, the image information sources 21-23 have image information a4-a6 corresponding to parts A4-A6 of the object 20 between the parts A1-A3 thereof, in addition to the image information a1-a3 corresponding to the parts A1-A3.
Therefore, when the image display 10 is observed from the X-direction, the images of the parts A4-A6 of the object 20 can be provided, in addition to the images of the parts A1-A3 thereof. As a result, the resolution of the X-direction image of the object 20 can be enhanced.
In this invention, the resolutions of various direction images of the object 20 can be enhanced, in addition to the X-direction image thereof. As a result, the resolution of the three-dimensional image of the object 20 can be developed entirely.
In the image displaying method and the image display of the present invention, it is desired that the image information density within the microlens is enhanced through the relative movement between the optical source and the corresponding microlens. Since the microlens has a larger aperture angle, it can have relatively large amount of image information easily, so that the resolution of the three dimensional image can be developed easily.
In this case, the above relative movement can be carried out between the optical source and the adjacent microlens by controlling the optical intensities or the optical wavelengths of the light beams from the optical sources.
Moreover, in the image displaying method and the image display of the present invention, it is preferable, as is apparent from the above description, that the optical intensities and the optical wavelengths of the light beams from the optical sources are provided as the optical signals corresponding to image information of a given object.
The relative movements between the optical source and the microlens may be carried out one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally. In the one-dimensional relative movements, the high resolution of the three-dimensional image can be attained when the image display is observed one dimensionally. In the two-dimensional relative movements, the high resolution of the three-dimensional image can be attained even though the image display is observed from various directions in the image displaying side of the image display.
All the magnitudes of the relative movements between the optical sources and the microlenses, arranged in the image display, may be set to be constant. Or some magnitudes of the relative movements may be set to be different from the others. In the former case, the relative movements can be easily controlled in the image display.
In the latter case, the image information densities within some of the microlenses can be increased or decreased. Therefore, the resolution of the three-dimensional image can be controlled appropriately, depending on the observing directions.
Moreover, the arrangement density of the microlenses may be set to be constant or different in the arrangement direction of the microlenses. If the arrangement density is set to be constant, the microlenses can be fabricated and arranged easily. Moreover, if the arrangement density is set to be different, the image information are increased or decreased, depending on the increase or decrease of the arrangement density. Therefore, the resolution of the three-dimensional image can be controlled appropriately, depending on the observing directions.
The arrangement density can be varied by changing the arrangement number of plural microlenses having the same size or different size in the arrangement direction.
Furthermore, all the focal lengths of the microlens in the image display may be set to be constant, or some of the focal lengths may be set to be different from the others. In the former case, all the microlens can be fabricated and arranged easily.
In the latter case, the aperture angles of some of the microlenses are increased or decreased, depending on the magnitudes of the focal lengths of the microlenses. That is, when the focal length of the microlens is increased, the aperture angle of the microlens is decreased. Therefore, the magnitude of the relative movement between the optical source and the corresponding microlens is decreased and thus, the image information from the optical source are decreased.
On the other hand, when the focal length of the microlens is decreased, the aperture angle of the microlens is increased. Therefore, the magnitude of the relative movement between the optical source and the corresponding microlens is increased and thus, the image information from the optical source are increased.
As a result, if some of the focal lengths of the microlens in the image display are set to be different, the resolution of the three-dimensional image can be controlled appropriately, depending on the observing direction.
In the image displaying method and the image display of the present invention, light beam-scanning means may be provided between the optical sources and the microlenses. Since the light beam-scanning means can stop down the light beam from the optical source and give the light beam orientation, the resolution of the three-dimensional image can be more enhanced.
In using the light beam-scanning means, the relative movements may be carried out between the light beam-scanning means and the optical sources, in addition to between the optical sources and the microlenses. In this case, it is desired that the relative movement is carried out within the light beam-scanning means opposed to the corresponding to the optical source. Moreover, the relative movements can be carried out one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally. Therefore, when the image display is observed one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally, the high resolution of the three-dimensional image can be attained.